RiP Trippers Exposed: First Interview Ever!

Who is RiP Trippers? You may have possibly heard some controversy revolving around his name during the last few months, especially after his little “Dry-Knuckle-Gate” scandal earlier this year. But do you know anything about him? Today we will be going beyond the beard….

JT of Vapestars, a fairly popular YouTube channel (but not nearly as popular as RiP’s) had the rare chance to sit down with the man himself in an un-cut interview. Not only is this the first one he has ever done, but this is the first time many people are seeing him unedited (or, at least, edited by someone other than team RiP).

A major criticism of RiP Trippers is that his videos are heavily chopped to the point where it feels un-natural. Many of his followers (and haters) have been wanting to see a video that truly portrays him, something we haven’t seen since his early videos, which are still online.

Dry Knuckles and Tough Topics

JT dives straight into the interview by offering RiP Trippers some lotion for his dry knuckles, making it a point that this is not just going to be a walk in the park for him. RiP seems to have a great sense of humor about that and some of the other criticisms that the interviewer throws at him.

RiP actually flips the script on him and asks JT why he has so much lotion to begin with…

JT continues to tackle other tough topics such as health, advocacy, tax write-offs, affiliate links, paid reviews and his responses (or lack thereof) to social media comments. Another notable moment was when he engages RiP in a venture to raise money for vape advocacy.

Towards the end of the interview, RiP gives credit where credit is due and cites the reviewers that got him inspired to start vaping and making videos. He also talks about what it takes to be a reviewer and what it was like when he was starting out, before he received free products.

RiP Trippers also finally addresses the major criticism that he gives overly positive reviews. He makes the argument that he essentially doesn’t have time to waste on crappy gear and despite that; he always makes sure to list pros and cons for every single product he tests out.

JT tries to pull out the lotion one more time and RiP manages to flip it on him yet again when he realizes that the bottle is nearly empty. For a guy who edits his videos with more cuts than an MTV reality show, he is actually quite witty and thinks pretty quick on his feet, apparently.

Friend or Foe?

Whether you love him or hate him, it is actually a fascinating video. Many people have mixed opinions about RiP. We would love to hear what you think. Leave a comment after watching it!

Do you think RiP is being sincere or is this just an attempt to clean up a tarnished image?

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Dave hails from New York City and is committed to providing high quality reviews and the most up-to-date vaping news coverage. His goal is to save vapers time and money. He is passionate about keeping people off the cigarettes, which is how he ended up on our team. When Dave is not working for Vaping360, you can find him producing music or educating the youth of tomorrow.

I like RIP. He’s entertaining. I’ve always been in agreement with products I have bought. I don’t really care what happens behind the scenes. He’s passionate about vaping and making a living. Good for him. Fact is I never rely on one source. I hit RIP and vaping 360 n some others before I purchase anything. I love what you guys do and the effort put out to help. Millions of people. Thousands of products. It’s a tall order

I think it is a huge compliment that you place us in the same category as RiP, Davis. He inspired many of us to do reviews. It is great to know that people appreciate what we do for the vaping industry! All I can say is vape on, my friend and stay tuned…

Jeremy Barr

I’m a huge fan of RIPs the video didn’t bother me. Never once thought he was in the take.

Amanda

Exactly what so many are upset about….. they all actually do, for the most part. Be it from affiliate links, discount codes OR giveaway products… being sent one of every color in every style (I mean, how many of the SAME thing does it take for a review? How many 120ml bottles of liquid?) OR, maybe based on a good review of a product they did actually like… are now being sent huge bottles of this or that expensive, limited edition or otherwise unavailable size of pricey e-liquid will be sent their way for life? Regardless, they all benefit in pretty big ways based on their channel content, sponsors, affiliate links, discount codes… positive reviews &/or commitments made & timelines kept with suppliers. What they do… brings business to these companies, period. That said, what they do or don’t make… how much they do or don’t get from You Tube views…. & even if wayyyy out there, but IF one is paid to do a review….. How they do their channels, the style of, content & what they choose to do with it, is 100% their business. As viewers, we don’t have the right, nor are we entitled in any way…. to their personal financial info. What they do or don’t advocate, whether or not they comment or reply… show up at events… their choice, not our place to say. Instead, imho we should just be grateful for the information they already know….. & are sharing with all of us, for our benefit…. that maybe saved us from spending $30 on a tank we thought… was gonna be great… A liquid that actually sucks but we were about to order… or, shed light on something we hadn’t heard of…. that we can now go & get WITH a discount. What we do have the right to do…. is pick/choose where & who we’d like to watch & if not… luckily, it’s as easy as clicking a little red “x” in our upper right hand corner, for that easy exit & we can move on. I’m grateful for all of ’em that they put in the time & effort…. Hell, he realized that video was about to be taken wrongly OR misconstrued (I mean, think about it… why on Earth would he do anything to jeopardize his own channel & the industry that has brought him so much for many years, anyway?? He has his channel, a couple juice lines… that site re: advocacy that sent out documentation to representatives a couple years ago— so, there, he does do advocacy. Doesn’t need to mention it or prove…. to indicate he does it, ya know?— Even created a product, a genesis style atomizer that was super popular & difficult to obtain back in the day… the AC-9.. Even common sense should tell people he wouldn’t risk all that….. for anything, let alone some product pushing, c’mon now) & he took it down right away. Most.. wouldn’t even know about it, to be honest. The ones who actually did ALL the damage… & risked so much…. is all those who grabbed & then re-posted, bitched about, spread, gossiped, assumed, judged & pushed their own interpretations, thoughts & beliefs.. onto others….. wrongly, imho! Exactly what people are so mad about him doing.. how dare he……. & yet they are the ones who did it?! Kind of ironic, ‘eh? It’s all unfortunate… Imho, he’s doing his best…. doing it ‘his way’ take it or leave it. He isn’t ‘social’ despite his videos, so what. More of an introvert… Imho vapers should just leave the guy alone & benefit from what he’s offering…… or not. All the personal stuff, financials, etc…. they all do it, all get stuff for free “for the purposes of”… that WHOLE big whoop-la about that Kim-Sun TC device about a yr ago showed that crystal clear. Here many are complaining about that “club” they were asked to join… Realizing the product was not good (so they assumed again) tried to “OUT” the company for being shady…. Did they not see that they were also, thus…. outing themselves, since….. apparently…. they had all gotten & were reviewing the product they needed to join some ‘club’ to get??? whoops. Perhaps everything just isn’t as ……….. as it seems. What is told is told for a reason… same with what isn’t. It’s a shame more don’t see/realize that much, at least. Anyway, my apologies for the novel AND huge run-on. Got going & well… yeah. lol =p Live long(ER) & vape on! #ABillionLivesFilm

Youresomad

Typically when it comes to other reviewers hating on RIP, the ones squawking the most are the ones likely projecting.

John Osborne

You know the thing is, Most things vape related is really intimate, with almost every single one of us. It has been from the very beginning, the very first time you interacted with someone in vape for most.
I’m not talking about the same intimate as you are with your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend when you are having pillow talk in bed late at night, LOL.
Its is though really intimate when you go in a shop and get juice, equipment, and whatnot. Most usually hang out in the shop for a hour or more, lol as long as you can usually. You shoot the jaw with the employees, the owners, the other customers. Were usually all excited and giddy like a lil school girl about vape and everything related. Its our club our family. Most of us have seen the random stranger in public vaping and we just HAVE to go talk to them and let them know we vape too. That’s also very intimate. What other retail establishment do you do that in? You don’t do that at Walmart, at Macys, at the Mall, at Best Buy, etc….Even since the start even on social media it a lot of instances we’ve been intimate with other vapers, even people we’ve never meet in person or maybe will never meet; weve got to know each other and groups and even industry and company owners we talk to in person at trade shows, at shops, etc…. What other industry can you shoot the jaw with owners of just about any company? You don’t go to Walmart and talk to the Walton family or any other company/corporation.
It just doesn’t happen with any other situation except in vape. Its a really unique situation.
In saying that I’m not a huge Rip Trippers fan. I really like what he has done all in all, he has helped TONS and helped TONS of people get involved in the industry balls deep head first.
In his situation it hasn’t been available or practical for him to be intimate with the majority or the masses. He has done his job for what his purpose is.
He has really been smart to have not started responding to comments on youtube, or facebook. He is sooo freaking popular that’s all he would get done.
Then you would have Joe Blow from Florida would get mad cause he wouldn’t respond to his witty fast tracked comment but he did to Lil Old Mary that had a beginner question about a 901 connection cigalike.
Then theres another side, you know maybe Rip is not the guy that wants or needs (i.e I’m thinking ego’s and other self centering variables or can sacrifice his family and personal life) to have that connection with us. I have a family, other interest than vape. I’ve owned 2 shops and was very active in the community, worked 70+ hr 6 days a week and tried to keep up in my relatively small community(small compared to Rip’s).
He does what he wants and IMO has been smart
He isn’t really selling a product (other than his own juice line WHICH I don’t think ive heard him even mentioned except for once a long time ago) He isn’t really as far as we know in any one class of vapor, except we know he likes the flavor. He has tried it all and I think some classes, like cloud chasing, he did only to get familiar to “service” that side of the community. LOL it was obvious he didn’t know Tons about that facet of vaping but he did alright. I can honestly say that without him there wouldn’t be as many advanced vapers as they are today. For like a 2-3 year period I would say 60-70 percent of everybody vaping started out watching his videos. I would say that number is even higher for the total vapers that have used the internet any at all to connect and learn about vaping.
Like I said Im not a big fan, hell I haven’t even seen him on ANY videos for way over a year and half until I watched the interview he did with JT and that was about 20 minutes or so ago.
Just imagine all the negativity, unnecessary drama, snootiness, back biting, back stabbing, douchery, whirlwind of BS that has engulfed vaping in social media and between shops in the past 2-3 years, just imagine if all that energy, time, heartache, despair, and even money was put forth to ADVOCACY instead of the other nominal BS. Just imagine where we would be today. Instead of assuming its Caasa’s responsibility to fight and win for us while we keep on with the BS drama. Knowing in the backs of our minds that those groups like Cassa and Safta that albeit with good intentions they just wasn’t going to get the job done. All the while we as a whole kept on with the BS. Just imagine where we would today if we would pull up our big boy/Girl panties 2 years ago when we knew these days were coming and fought the good fight instead of each other .
DONT HATE…..ADVOCATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and leave poor ol Rip alone! LOL.

Kevin

Always liked Rips Reviews and besides the griffin 25 I agree with all his reviews. Also learned some great coil builds from his vids and while he didn’t create the builds he always did a great job of explaining things for the beginning builder and always gave credit to the inventors.

frizzybob

His vlogs on fishing and catching big pig basses are actually not too bad although, it’s not too exciting . Shows a different side of him. There’s one simple things ppl can do if they don’t like something or someone , don’t watch. Or hit the X.

Youresomad

He can sometimes be very annoying, but that’s my personal opinion. I think his greatest amount of hate has been from other reviewers, who haven’t done as well as him. At least he seems to know the products and nomenclatures. Where as, say, twisted420 for example, is utterly horrible at making videos, fumbles everything and spends more time creating drama than any other reviewer. It’s pretty easy to tell which of the reviewers are in it for the free shit and which are there because they have a true passion for it.

Youresomad

Did that hipster douche Tristan Poop ever gain any relevance trying to ride RIP’s coat tails after vitamin water gate? That Zero kept deleting people’s comments on his video if they didn’t align with his thinking. He and his bf in the video with him we’re both wildly ignorant.

Jonard Bolinao

I think he is a happy man, i enjoyed watching his reviews, i learned a lot from him 👍👍👍👍